Archives for December 2016

The new year’s bringing with it a tax increase for McKean County.
Taxes are going up in 2017. McKean County Commissioners approved the 2017 budget calling for taxes to be raised by 1 ¼-mills. A homeowner with a $50,000 home will pay about $63 more in county taxes next year.
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New York’s giving $2.5 million in tax credits and grants to a new cheese manufacturing plant scheduled to open in western New York in about a year.
The Democrat & Chronicle reports construction on the $49.7 million WNY Cheese Enterprise production facility in Livingston County is already underway.
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And if you’re planning to exercise more in the new year, your first chance will be New Year’s day. The second annual New Year’s Day Hike for your Health begin at 10 a.m. Sunday at Pfeiffer Nature Center in Portville.
The hike is free and open to the public.
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Cattaraugus County continues to be under a lake-effect snow warning until 10 p.m. tonight. Allegany County’s under a winter storm advisory.
By the time the storm’s done, there could be as beween 8 and 12 inches of lake-effect snow out west, but the Olean area should only get 2 to 4 inches if predictions form meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Buffalo hold true.
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The 61-year-old Blue Cross area in Rochester will be renovated instead of building a new statium. Mayor Lovely Warren said the cost of a new stadium is too much for the city. Warrent make the remarks during the unveiling of a new marquee at Blue Cross Arena on Wednesday.
The city’ll get a $10 and a half million dollar grant to do the work. It should begin this summer
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Chamber Music Society of Olean will a free Messiah Concert tonight at 7 at St. Mary of the Angels Church.

Our gas prices are on the march upward. In Bradford it costs on average $2.50 a gallon for gas, according to the American Automobile Association Fuel Gauge Report.
That’s three cents more than last week. Around the area the average price for gas stands just a little lower at $2.48 a gallon. Nationwide, the average price for gas is $2.29 a gallon, which is five cents more than a week ago, 16 cents more than one month ago and 29 cents more than a year ago.
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A new park and ride lot is coming to Belvidere. Legislators approved a spending $850,000 for the facility on Tuesday, with two legislators voting no. It’ll be paid for mostly with grants. They’ve been working on the grant since 2008. There’ll be an additional 70 parking spots built at the Crossroads Center, another entrance to the lot closer to Hess Road, and LED lighting,

With a new $100,000 check in the bank CAReS officials say they’re hoping for more. Much more. The Council on Addiction REcovery systems is waiting to hear about a $2 million state grant for for a new women’s shelter. The agency says they have as good a shot as anyone to get a $2 million Rapid Treatment Expansion state grant through the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. It would house women who’ve completed a detox program. They hope to get the news later next month.
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Allegany County legislators want anyone who kills a police officer, fire fighter or paramedic to get the death penalty.
The County Board passed a nonbinding resolution asking congressional representatives to introduce a law setting a mandatory death penalty for anyone convicted of targeting and murdering state and local law enforcement or first responders. the result.

The Bradford Salvation Army’s met it’s goal for 2017
The charity made the goal with a last minute push. It only had 30 percent of it’s goal by mid December. But a large gift came in December 22nd to cover the campaign. The red kettle campaign raised a little more than $48,000
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St. Bonaventure students want controversial mogul Carl Paladino’s name removed from an on-campus apartment. Paladino’s remarks last week about wanting to see President Obama die of mad cow disease and Michelle Obama go back to being a man and live in a cave with an African gorilla were published in a Buffalo newspaper. Paladino says he only meant the remarks for friends and sent them to the newspaper by mistake.
The petition’s been signed by over 800 people. It was created by students living in Paladino House. It argues that Paladino does not demonstrate the university’s Franciscan values.
Paladino’s a a 1968 graduate of St. Bonaventure.

Racist remarks emailed by Buffalo real estate mogul and St. Bonaventure alum Carl Paladino, about President Barack Obama and his wife weren’t meant for publication, Paladino says. He released a statement saying his “inappropriate” comments were sent to a Buffalo newspaper by “mistake.” He’d only wanted to share them with only a few friends. The millionaire developer told Artvoice last week that he hoped President Obama would die from mad cow disease and that Michelle Obama would “return to being a male, let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe and live with a gorilla.
Paladino’s a member of the Buffalo school board and the board’s called an emergency meeting for tomorrow to address the controversy. Paladino says he won’t resign.
He co-chaired the New York Trump campaign.
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Donald Trump cannot dismantle his charitable foundation now that the New York state prosecutors are investigating whether he personally benefited from its spending, the New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday.

Two men have been charged but they say they’re not guilty to breaking into a couple of places in Olean two months ago . 30 year old Paul Tyler of Cuba and 30 year old Erik Hagen are also charged with resisting arrest. Police say they had possession of burglar’s tools when they were arrested. They’re in teh county jail.
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They’re leaving the area in droves. A report from an Albany-based group says local populations continue to get smaller here in the Southern Tier.
The report issued by the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, says Cattaraugus County’s population dropped by over 2,300 people from 2010 to 2015, and the lowest population in the county since 1950. The estimates also say that Allegany County’s population dropped almost 1,500 people The last time Allegany County was home to so few was in 1970.

The end of the year is the end of a career for retiring Cattaraugus County Family Court Judge Michael Nenno. He’s done it longer than anyone ever has. Nenno’s served as a judge longer than anyone in county’s history.
After 25 years on the bench, Nenno is stepping down at the end of the year. It’s not because he wants to, he has to. 70 is the mandatory judicial retirement age.
He says THE BIGGEST CHANGE in the job over teh past 25 years has been the computer. When he began in 1991, there was only one computer in the the entire building
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Olean’s Christmas list may include a few ho ho ho’s, but there just one backhoe on the liast. And it costs $18,000. The Common Council’s approved a transfer the money from three contingency accounts to but the euqipment. The money comes from the city’s general fund, water and sewer contingency accounts.

Race is taking center stage Thursday, at the African American Center.
The African American Center for Cultural Development in Olean is offering an interactive workshop called, “Race: The Power of an Illusion”. It starts at three in the afternoon Thursday. It’ll be presented by Portville-native Jessica Campbell. It’s free and open to the public. The workshop will include a short film, discussion of racism means and how to fight it. Campbell has a degree in musical theatre from Pittsburgh’s Point Park University.
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On that topic, a Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, a St. Bonaventure alum is in hot water for saying that he wishes President Obama dies of ‘mad cow disease,’ compared gthe first lady to gorilla.
Paladino’s comments were published Friday by Buffalo weekly newspaper Artvoice. He was responding to a question about whast he’d like to see happen in 2017. Paladino confirmed to several Buffalo media outlets that he made the remarks.

Cattaraugus County courtroom’s are getting getting spruced up to become the courtroom of tomorrow. It’ll cost $400,000 in renovations of the courtroom on the third floor before it’s done. Cattaraugus County is picking up $50,000 of the cost.
The courtrooms will be updated with cameras and a sound system. The room will be wired for internet and audio-visual uses as well. Other improvements include a system designed for the hearing impaired.
Work began last week. The project is scheduled to be completed in March.
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Some Port Allegany student singers are heading to Carnegie Hall in January.
They’ll sing an a cappella program as part of program to Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Port Allegany Chamber Singers were invited to participate in the tribute Jan. 14, Singers will be traveling to New York City from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and one group is comging from Ireland.